SSC Stenographer 12 September 2017 Morning Shift

Read the given passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the four given alternatives.

The Divine Comedy is a narrative poem describing Dante's imaginary journey. Midway on his journey through life Dante realizes he has taken the wrong path. The Roman poet Virgil searches for the lost Dante at the request of Beatrice; he finds Dante in the woods on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300 and serves as a guide as Dante begins his religious pilgrimage to find God. To reach his goal, Dante passes through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. The Divine Comedy was not titled as such by Dante; his title for the work was simply Commedia or Comedy. Dante’s use of the word "comedy" is medieval by definition. To Dante and his contemporaries, the term "comedy" meant a tale with a happy ending, not a funny story as the word has since come to mean. Dante and Virgil enter the wide gates of Hell and descend through the nine circles of Hell. In each circle they see sinners being punished for their sins on earth; Dante sees the torture as Divine justice. Dante first travels through circles of hell and then through 3 rings before entering the 8th circle. Then there are 9 bowge before Dante reached the 9th circle. After 9th circle Dante has to travel 4 more regions. On Easter Sunday, Dante emerges from Hell. Through his travels, he has found his way to God and is able, once more, to look upon the stars.

Read the given passage carefully and select the best answer to each question out of the four given alternatives.

The bird life of the Tarai region is much the same as that found in the Malabar Coast and Assam, and includes horn‐bills, barbets, fruit‐pigeons, bulbuls and woodpeckers. Along the cultivated areas and on the edge of the forests are found some of the more common birds of the Indian plains, and many wading birds and water fowls spend the winter among its streams and marshes. The cold season stimulates the migration of many species of birds from Tibet such as wild ducks and cranes, which breed in the mountains and descend to the plains for a brief change. The Central Region is described as a clusterous space of mountains varying in elevation from 4,000 to 10,000 feet with a range of temperature varying from ten to twelve degrees lower the Tarai. It includes the Mahabharat range of mountains which rise to 8,000 feet to form a continuous barrier across Nepal from east to west. At intervals, this mountain wall is pierced by the gorges of the transverse rivers of the Seven Kosis, or the Seven Gandaks, or the noble river Karnali. Between the Mahabharat range and the main Himalayan chain, there are many populous valleys
like Dumja, Kathmandu, Pokhara, and many others where the majority of the population is densely concentrated. The fauna of this central zone is characteristically Himalayan. Many of the species occurring in this region are peculiar to Nepal alone. Such animals as the ferret, badger, raccoon, crestless porcupine, etc., do not occur in the Indian peninsula. The whole genera of such birds as yuhina, siva, minla, ixulu, etc., are nearly, if not wholly, restricted to this region. The majority of reptiles occurring in this zone are purely Himalayan species.